Doodles are the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists. We have a great team of doodlers that design the doodles day to day, the fun and popular doodles you have come to know and love, but this time we wanted to hand the paintbrush and pencil crayons over to the most creative folks we know - Canadian students.

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of the first annual Doodle 4 Google contest in Canada. Open to students K-12 in Canada, Doodle 4 Google is an opportunity to design the doodle for the Google.ca homepage where millions of people will see it. The overall winning artist will also take home a $10,000 scholarship and a $10,000 grant for their school.

At Google we like to think big, and in the spirit of thinking big, our theme for the competition is “If I could invent anything, I would invent...” We’re asking everyone to test the limits of their imagination and dream up a doodle that represents whatever this theme means to you -- from a brand new innovation or futuristic idea, to something that would make the world a better place. The possibilities are endless.

Participation is easy – download the entry form at google.ca/doodle4google, then print it, design your doodle and submit. Submissions close on December 31st, so get started and have fun!

The judging will begin with Googlers and a panel of guest judges including: astronaut and former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, film & television actress Karine Vanasse, Royal Ontario Museum CEO Janet Carding, and Ann Makosinski, winner of the 2013 Google Science Fair, and a young inventor herself.

The top 25 regional winners will be flown to Toronto for an awards ceremony on February 25th and be featured in a special exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, but we will be asking you to help us pick the top 5 national finalists in an online vote open to all Canadians early in the New Year in a public vote online, so stay tuned for more updates.